The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-11-05
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
PARLoR PARADoxEs.

Two interesting physical experiments are
amusing French scientific men. In the first a |
lighted candle is placed behind bottle, and the |
latter is blown upon with the breath from a dis
tance of about foot. The meeting of the air |
currents set in motion around the bottle quickly
extinguishes the fame, though extinction would
be impossible if fat board or sheet Of cardboard
were substituted for tho bottle. For the second |
experiment two bottles placed on table, with
q space of half an inch between them. The can
die is set behind this space, and from the same
distance as BEFORE the opposite side, the breath
is blown smartly against the flame. Not only
will the latter continue burning, but it will incline
slightly toward the operator as if through the eff
feet Of suction. This phenomenon, analogous
to the first, is due to the fact that PORTION of
the air cannot pass between the bottles and is
forced around them and back toward the expert
menter.
THE AUSTRALIAN LION.
Recent discoveries have settled the vexed ques
ton of the former existence of lions in Australia.
Bones from the Wellington Caves, New South
Wales, are regarded by Prof. Owen, of the
British Museum, as being those Of a marsupial or
pouch-bearing lion, fully equal in size to the
existing African species. These remains were
found in connection with those of the Tasmanian
Tiger and Tasmanian Devil. Quite curiously,
Prof. Owen many years ago expressed the con-
viction that certain ancient herbivorous animals
of Australia must have been kept in check by q
c0-eX1stent race OF lions.
EARLY SCIENCE.
In the early groupings for knowledge the study
of echpses held prominent place. Their revo
luton was calculated by Calippus, the Athenian,
33d B. G. The Egyptians said they had accu-
ratey observed 373 eclipses of the sum- and S32 of
the moon, in the period from Vulcan to Alexander,
who died 1923 B. G. The theory of eclipses is said
to have been known to the Chinese before 12O B.
G. The first eclipse recorded was one of the moon,
and was accurately observed by the Chaldeans at
Babylon March 18th, 72l B. c., at $40 P. NJ,
according to Ptolemy. The lessons sought from
eclipses have not all been learned even yet, and
more expensive expeditions than the ancients
could have dreamed of are now sent out for OBJ
serving total eclpses of the sun, like that which
quite number of astronomers hope to view from
Russian soil on August 10.
FRIEDLANDERs LAMP.
A portable incandescent electric lamp and
primary battery, devised by Friedlander of Berlin
occupy an ebony box four inches long by four in
ches wide and seven inches deep. The battery
has six cells, each containing pair of zinc and
carbon electrodes. The solution consists of mix
ture of chloride of zinc and bichromate of potash.
For light of about three candle power the solu-
ton is said to cost about four cents an hour
DECIMAL MONEY AND DECIMAL TINE.
The Metric System of Weights and Measures
having been almost universally recognized, may
it not be hoped that uniform decimal currency
and decimal system of time measurement will
follow ere long and gain general adoption Most
countries already possess some form of decimal
money, and even England looks upon it with grow
ing favor, late scheme for decimalizng the pound
sterling being strongly supported. In this new
British system it was proposed to make the mill
the unit, dividing the sovereign into 1000 mills:
then the half-sovereign would equal 500 mills
the crown, $50 mills the double form, 200 mills:
the haf-crown, 125 mills the form, 100 mills;
the shilling, so mills; and the sixpence, 25 mills.
In Wiesbaden a step in decimal time keeping has
been taken. new clock divides the day into
ten hours, the hour into ten decades, the decade
into ten minutes, the minute into ten seconds, and
the second into ten rays. Similar units will take
the place of the usual degrees minutes and seconds
in the division of the circle. 1t is further pro-
posed to divide the year into ten months-the
even ones of SO, the uneven of 81 days each.
AN ALLEGED ERROR.
A popular fallacy, according to Mr.. A. w. Hare
OF the Royal Society of Edinburgh, is the belief
that water from rushing torrent is safer for
drinking stream, for the reverse is really the fact
Sewage-contaminated water contains fewer or
ganisms after ten twelve days than river water,
for the reason that the microbes rapid growth
during the first two or three days exhausts their
food-supply.
MISCELLANEOUS.
At Rome and some other places in Italy, the
curious observation has been made that o Their
mometer in the shade sometimes indicates higher
tcularly when strong wind strikes the latter in
strument.
Two French electricians have obtained an cleo
trio current from metallic foil when unequally
heated in a magnetic field.
So various are the forms of plant-life that it
seems well-nigh impossible to find spot where
some kind of vegetation will not thrive. Mr..
John Ball, naturalist returned from South Amer
lea, therefore congratulates himself ON having
seen an absolutely plantless land at Tocopilla,
about p degrees south of the equator on the rain
less west coast. Not so much as lichen could
be discovered the rocks, even with microscopic
aid.
Pasteur proves the value of his preventive of
splenic fever by showing that in France, during
the last five years, the mortality of inoculated
sheep has ranged from 0.75 to LOS per cent that
of non-inoculated being 10 per cent. Only OBS
to O.5O per cent of inoculated cattle died, and
per cent of others.
At a recent meeting of the London Anthropolog-
ical Institute, DR.. George Harley sought to prove
that the conditions which have increased mans
comfort and stimulated his mental faculties have
lessened his vitality and recuperative powers,
making him more liable to fatal injuries.